The Indian Touch to Fukuoka

On a lazy Sunday morning, I got up wishing I could get some bed coffee/tea/breakfast/lunch without moving my lazy bones. Well, if it was home I would have got it almost but then when you stay alone you can’t have the luxury of such things. So, how would my reactions be if I was granted this particular wish. Excited, elated and contended. Thats what exactly happened. We had a barbecue party yesterday and there was chicken still remaining. Not intending to waste it, the bachelors had requested R to make some chicken curry for them. And so all of us got to eat yummy chicken curry without moving an inch of our lazy bones all courtesy our super chef R. 

R is not only a superb chef, she is an artist too, the “chupa rustum” type because even two months back, we didn’t know she could paint so well. And one fine day, I see this beautiful painting, rather a mithila artwork on her orkut album. It was really a shock as well as a sweet surprise. Believe it or not, not just me all the guys were also dumbfounded by this. Her culinary skills were well known among us but this was something we had never expected.  

In the below picture, she has captured the spirit of the traditional Butter churning process. So much of intricate details and colors. She takes about 18 hours to complete each painting.When you put so much of effort, the outcome is naturally beautiful 🙂

These are a set of six table mats made on green paper on which she has painted motifs of ladies depicting various emotions. These are complimented by a mehendi design below each of them. 

Now comes the icing on the cake. She also teaches Indian traditions, painting, basics of Hindi and cooking to the Japanese over here. Japanese people love Indian curry which speaks for the abundance of Indian restaurants. Of course, except for a few which offer authentic Indian food, the rest are Indo-Nepali restaurants which have made Indian food look as though there is nothing beyond naan, palak curry and chicken curry. A look at one of her classes which she conducts 2-3 times in a month. Its sure is a lovely way to tell about our country. 

We grow up intending to be doctors, engineers, business analysts, and so on. Sometimes, its also the circumstances which decides our profession. However, its  inherent talent which prevails over all this and brings out the best in us. It also gives us that immense sense of satisfaction and pleasure which a high profile and high paying job can never give us. R has found this love and satisfaction in her paintings. So, heres wishing her a lot of luck. May she make more and more lovely mithila paintings and bring more talents of her to the fore.  

360 degree Fukuoka – Travel Special

My cooking expeditions@Fukuoka

Food in India is never a problem… You always have multiple choices to choose from … big restaurants, small ones, fast foods, dabba system, ready to eat, home delivery etc etc ….. especially if you are not interested in cooking or want a respite from your daily dull routine….

In Fukuoka,with the limited options …. options are really limited … just a handful of Indian restaurants. To be very specific…… 3 near to my office where we frequent for lunch….. 2 a little further away….. our fav joints for dinner….. 2 more still further away (ok lets leave them they r too far away 🙂 ). I would also like to mention about the semi-japanese restaurant wara-wara that we go to for dinner at times…. Probably the only japanese restaurant I like as they serve some fried food too in addition to japanese food. Its not a expensive or a very high-profile restaurant but ya the environment simply relaxes me. Any day from office take me to this place and am at peace with myself….. 🙂 …. There is something really soothing about this place…. Do give it a try if you are anywhere in japan. For vegiies (esp the very strict ones) … pls do learn some cooking before you plan to come to Japan :). Funniest part is we have to order Indian groceries from tokyo which takes about 3-4 days to reach us but thankfully we do get those things. I am told by the old timers here that we didnt have this facility earlier (Technology u see 🙂 )

Flashback: I wish I had listened to my Dad when he used to tell me to learn to cook … boo hoo boo hoo…. i need a kerchief 🙂 but as all kids do “Never listen to good things”. I also followed suit and I finally landed up in Fukuoka on 25th March 2007 with zero knowledge of cooking. My cooking abilities extended to only making tea and coffee. Thankfully I had roomies who knew cooking…. God is great you see… and then started my gr8 expedition to discover cooking…. By the time they left fukuoka, i could manage to make a decent meal for myself but others never!!!! … I would try to make excuses to avoid making for everyone so that no one had to eat the bad food I made…. (So very generous of me :))

Then came the most embarrassing moment when I had to make rice kheer for potluck (this time i had no escape:( ) and it got all burnt. It really felt bad to see the disappointed faces of my colleagues. Probably that was the day I decided to learn cooking in a more proper way. So started my cooking lessons with vineet san and the numerous recipes found on the net (My invariable guide is of course uma san … In recent days leena san, rachna san,bela san … well practically all members of the Ladies committee of Fukuoka).

Initially there was still the inhibition in making a dish as to whether it will turn out good or not but thanks to all my colleagues who tasted it (even though at times very bad)!!!! ….. So Sweet of them !!!!…..I went on to discover the art of cooking. I discovered the usage of onions, tomatoes, masalas etc etc (whoever discovered masalas… tussi gr8 ho..cooking without MDH masala & MTR masala is still a bad experience for me :P). I still wonder why Indian cooking uses so much of masala…. while there are so many countries where food is made without these masalas too. Indians do like a lot of masala 😛

Coming back to the present, my penchant for good food and obvious scarcity of Indian restaurants did make me learn cooking. I know my dad will smile on reading this. He loves to make me cook at home but wont keep his nosey out of my cooking.. “Masala is more…. so much of tomatoes… so much of oil and it goes on……and on….!!!” (After all parents will be parents :P).

So all of you who hate cooking…. pls dont do 🙂 ….. cooking is sheer pleasure and always remember one thing while you cook … “Tussi gr8 chef ho” … Enjoy cooking!!!!!! 😛